Board takes action on fraternities

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The Boston Licensing Board agreed last week to permit three members of Phi Gamma Delta to reside in the fraternity house. The board also placed Theta Chi on probation, prohibiting alcohol in the house until August 15.

Phi Gamma Delta's lodging license was suspended by the board in November in response to the death of freshman pledge Scott Krueger. Mr. Krueger fell into an alcohol-induced coma after allegedly drinking heavily at a social event at the house and died at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital on September 29. The Malcolm Cotton Brown Corp., which owns the house, may reapply for the license in August.

MIT made alternate housing available for members of Phi Gamma Delta, known as Fiji, including the 11 freshmen among the 27 students who were living there. The three who will remain in the house, at 28 The Fenway, Boston, are all juniors. Three unrelated adults may continue to reside in an unlicensed property for custodial purposes.

Theta Chi may reapply for alcohol privileges when the probation period ends. The fraternity voluntarily removed all alcohol from the house at 528 Beacon St. in Boston and declared it substance-free after a Boston University freshman claimed she was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning as a result of drinks consumed at the fraternity in November.

A third fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, has been barred by MIT from holding organized events after an 18-year-old freshman was hospitalized last month for alcohol poisoning. Shortly after the incident, the MIT chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon voted to make the fraternity permanently a substance-free house at the urging of its alumni corporation. A hearing on Sigma Phi Epsilon's license is scheduled for February 10.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on January 28, 1998.